SXSW Doc ‘Shuffle' Reveals How Rehab Facilties Prey on Addicts for the Sake of Profit
Benjamin Flaherty spent three years shooting 'Shuffle,' a documentary that follows three addicts who are trying to stay alive in rehab facilities that are scamming insurance companies. Flaherty reveals that patients are being bought and sold for their insurance policies and ushered into a cycle of care designed to keep them sick. With the help of an FBI informant, an insurance analyst, and the former executive director of a Philadelphia-based treatment facility, the director uncovers collusion at the highest levels of government.
Flaherty, who uses his personal journey of recovery from addiction as a way into the 82-minute doc, unravels a web of public policy and private interest preying on a desperate population for the sake of profit.
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'I was only a few months sober when I heard a story about people being lured into sober homes for their insurance policies,' he says. 'I was living in a sober home at the time, and I couldn't get my head around the fact that the same type of care that was saving my life was killing other people. So, I went to see for myself.'
Flaherty produced the doc with Carra Greenberg, Harris Fishman and Scott Paskoff.
Variety spoke with Flaherty about 'Shuffle' ahead of the film's SXSW screening on Wednesday.
Was there any concern about your sobriety when taking on this project, especially because you were living in a sober home at the time?
Flaherty: Probably not as much as there should have been. Watching other people get better was a beautiful part of my own experience in treatment and a huge inspiration behind this film. I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be to watch people stay sick. I went to a meeting every day during production, no matter where I was. I had to stay grounded, and that's the only way I know how: go sit in a room with other people who struggle with the same things as me and talk about it.
Was it challenging to find people who were trying to recover from addiction who were willing to participate in this doc?
The majority of people caught up in the 'Shuffle' end up dead or in jail, so yes, it was challenging to find people to speak on the subject for very practical reasons. People in treatment facilities are largely cut off from contact with the outside world. In some instances, I felt people were too willing, too eager to tell their story. There was a hunger for attention and fame in some instances that felt disingenuous. Honesty was the litmus test. I was interested in speaking with anyone willing to be honest with me. Many people were interviewed, and a few of those were followed for some period of time. The inclusion of the three main characters came down to narrative decisions and what collection of stories would best represent the issues.
Did you have any concerns about putting people who are actively suffering from addiction on camera?
Absolutely. These are people who are being actively exploited; how do we tell this story without further exploiting them? We let them have the agency in telling their story. We let them speak for themselves rather than have others speak about them. There was no crew involved in filming, ever. It was always one-on-one. 'Shuffle' is a film we created with our characters, not about them.
In the film you state that 'Money can't solve the problem. Money is the problem.' But all addiction centers rely on money – no?
Yes. And it's a problem because of how the money moves, not the money itself. The financial incentive doesn't encourage recovery. It encourages continued treatment, that's where the profit is. Recovery, in this system of care, represents a loss of profit, a loss of business. That's a fundamental conflict of interest. I think there's a massive illusion that money solves problems like this, and it can, but only if used wisely. Otherwise, it's like pouring gas on a fire. All that said, is it possible to find good treatment in a for-profit system? Yes, I did. So have millions of others. It starts with knowing what to look for.
The majority of 'Shuffle' centers around Florida addiction facilities. Is the addiction treatment system totally broken in just Florida or other states as well?
I don't believe the treatment system is broken. Is it easily manipulated? Yes, but I believe the treatment system is doing exactly what it was designed to do: create profit. The addiction treatment policy in the U.S. is an economic solution to a public health crisis, a solution designed to create financial incentives and a marketplace of services. It's done that exceedingly well. There are more treatment centers in the U.S. than McDonald's. But under these policies, recovery is only a secondary concern, only a 'reasonably expected outcome.' Untreated addiction costs the federal government over a trillion dollars a year across three industries: healthcare, law enforcement, and the court/prison system. Simply by treating addiction, and by 'treating' I mean providing services within a programmed setting, the government saves billions. At the same time, those services being provided create an enormous financial opportunity in the private sector. So the government saves money while private companies make money, and all this is happening regardless of whether anyone gets sober because the financial incentives are not tied to any positive outcomes.
Are Trump's new budget cuts helping or hurting addiction treatment?
Slashing services and funding is only going to hurt people, especially doing so blindly. 90% of people who need treatment in this country are still without access to it.
What are your hopes for this doc when it comes to distribution?
Addiction is about as American as apple pie at this point, yet we don't talk about it enough. There's so much shame and stigma around it. So I'd love for as many people as possible to see the film. Let's get it out there. Let's start a conversation. We'd love to do a small theatrical release in conjunction with distribution on a streaming service.
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